London' s Motorbuses.
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The Question of Control within the Metropolitan Police Area.
By Douglas Mackenzie.
The recent apparent deadlock between the London omnibus companies and the Metropolitan police attracted general notice in the Press. It is a many-sided question, and perusal of the public utterances of interested parties shows that due weight has not been given to all points of view. Residents on the lines of route complain of the noise, and vibration, though, now, with less justification. than in the early days, whilst many members of the public call for an increase in travelling facilities, and more of the motor omnibuses which they have so largely patronised. The sore point with the omnibus companies and the manufacturers is that the police, by implication, led them to believe that the vehicles delivered in June and July were satisfactory from the point of view of silence, and gave them no notice that a much higher standard would be required. Large orders were placed, on the understanding that these types were officially approved, and, now that the orders are in course of delivery, a new and arbitrary standard of silence is imposed, and vehicles, identical with those that were perfectly satisfactory three months ago, are summarily refused. It would be only justice if the police were to enquire what orders have been placed for these types, and agree to pass these, imposing the new standard of silence on future orders, only. A simple method of evading this Pollee tyranny 15open to all the London omnibus companies, and is one which would, undoubtedly, prove remunerative in the long run, it was named by the Editor of " TUE COMMERCIAL MoTOR " on March aoth last, when he was opening the discussion on Mr. Manville's paper at the Automobile Club, and is contained in Section 5 of the Metropolitan Stage Carriage Act, of 1869, the Act under which the Commissioner of Metropolitan Police is given his licensing powers. This section reads as follows :— 4' A 4 stage carriage ' which on every journey goes to or comes from some town or place beyond the limits of this Act shall not be deemed to he :1 carriage within the limits of this Act."
The effect of this provision is to remove from the Commissioner's control all stage carriages which run, on every journey, to or from some place outside the Metropolitan Police Area. On page 310 will be found a map of •• Greater London " in which the boundaries of the Metropolitan Police District are indicated by a thick broken line. London has grown vastly, since this area was selected, and, now, continuous lines of houses extend along certain routes almost to the limits of the district. It will, also, be noticed, from a cursory study of the map, that there are several important villages, just over the border line, that would provide convenient termini for the suggested services, such as Esher, Walton, Slough, Leatherhead, Romford, Crayford, and St. Albans.
The boundaries of the police district are very irregular, but approximate to A CIRCLE OF 12 MILES RADIUS from Charing Cross. The Act applies, also, to the City of London, which has its own police force, and the Home Secretary may act through either police force by the powers given him under the Act, but, in point of fact, the Home Secretary, for the time being, has always appointed the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis to act in the
matter of the issue of licenses for stage carriages and for drivers and conductors, and both police forces have to see that the provisions of the-Act are enforced. The extension
any motor-omnibus services to these outlying suburbs would be an immense benefit to the local residents. There are sure to be some selfish and prejudiced frontagers who will complain of any new traffic passing their residences, but these neig,hhourhoods will be made,ainch _more accessible by reason of the new services, and property will be appreciated, in consequence of the improved travelling facilities. Any service must, however, be frequent, with quite short intervals between the omnibuses, and their success can, justly, be argued from the success that has already attended electric tramway services, on routes of this character. It is true to say that practically no traffic existed on the EalingSouthall, Brentford-Hounslow, Brentford-TwickenhamHampton, Finchley-Whetstone, and Tottenham-Woodford routes, until fast and frequent services of electric tramcars were inaugurated, but, now, these vehicles are well patronised all day. It is obvious that similar traffic can be developed by motor omnibuses, which have no heavy capital expenditure on track equipment, even without rate aid.
Motorbus services would confer an enormous boon, if they prevented the extension of the tramway lines which are ruining our highways and imposing serious burdens on the rate-paying community. The obvious plan would be to start from an outside place, and to travel right across London to one of the present termini. The following routes may be suggested as examples :—Watford to Streatham; St. Albans to Tulse Hill ; Little Heath (Potters Bar) to Greenwich; Broxbourne to Putney; Epping to Hammersmith ; Romford to Acton; Rainham to Kensal Rise; Dartford to Cricklewood; Farningham to Finchley Road; Chelsfield to Hampstead Heath ; Redhill to Highgate; Kingswood to Finsbury Park; Ashstead to Stamford Hill; Leatherhead to Clapton; Esher to Bow Bridge; Walton to Black ; Egbarn to Liverpool Street; Colt-am-00k to Elephant and Castle; Gerrards Cross to Peckham; Hamper Hill to Brixton. These journeys are about double the length of those now taken by motor omnibuses, and the second half, which it is now suggested should he added to the journey, is not likely to be as remunerative as the present portion. But, nevertheless, the
DISTRICTS ARE WELL POPULATED, and a traffic is certain to accrue, though not, coe so heavy as that nearer the centre. The Ashstead route, for example, traverses Epsom, Ewell, Tolworth, Worcester Park, Raynes Park, Wimbledon, and Putney, whence it would follow the usual route to the City, and the Kingsland Road to Stamford IIill. All this district is well settled by residents, and would support a ten-minute service during the greater part of the day. The BroXbourne to Putney service would traverse the same route from Stamford Hill to Putney, and make a five-minute service over this central portion. The Leatherhead to Clapton service would cover the same road, from Putney to Dalstort, and the Epping to Hammersmith would overlap between Bethnal Green and Knightsbridge. Thus the frequency of the service would be proportioned to the density of the traffic. There is, however, only one consideration that carries any weight with the omnibus companies, and that is the effect on the balance-sheet. It is possible to arrive at an approximation to the financial value of the proposal, by a careful consideration of the details that go to make up both sides of the account. First, what will be the effect on the daily mileage? The garage may be situated near the terminus or it may be somewhere on the route, but, to comply with the clause in the Act, the motor omnibus mustgo to the outside terminus on both first and last journeys, as well as on each individual trip during the day. This
makes it more difficult to cover the road in the morning, but it may be got over, to some extent, by arranging that all the garages shall contribute to the various routes. Assume, for an illustration, that the " Vanguard " Company, with garages at Albany Street,-King's Cross and Kent Road, were to work the Watford-Streatham, and DartfordCricklewood services. Omnibuses would be despatched towards Watford from Albany Street (taking up the service at Portland Road Station), from King's Cross, via Russell Square, Kingsway, Strand and Cricklewood (showing a special board to that effect), and from Kent Road, via Camberwell Gate, Kennington and Elephant; and towards Dartford, also, from all these three &Ors. The Whole road could be covered from these several points rapidly, but not so rapidly as with the present shorter journeys.; we must, therefore, conclude that the working -day would have to be somewhat shorter. The operating company would be cet Wirt to establish further depets at Watford and Dartford, which would further facilitate the covering of the road in the morning, and the return at night. The shorter working day would not reduce the mileage, because a much better average speed would be maintained on the outer half of the journey, where the traffic was by no means so dense. It is probable that the average speed of motor omnibuses between Charing Cross and Liverpool Street does not exceed six miles an hour, whereas, even including stoppages to pick up and set down passengers, it would average TO miles an hour between Putney and Esher. It is, therefore, fair to say that the average of 120 miles per day would be maintained; half of this mileage would be made on the present routes, where an average earning of is. 2d. per mile can be made, and the other half of the mileage would be in a less densely populated district, where it would be fair to assume that the average earnings would be about is. per car mile.
It must be remembered that, as soon as the services a-known, there will be a regular clientele, which will use these vehicles at particular hours, and it is fairly safe to assert that full loads will be obtained both ways, at certain hours; such, for example, as on the morning journeys to the City, the evening journeys to the theatres, and on the outward journeys between 5 and 7 o'clock and after the closing of the theatres. In this way, much higher average earnings would be made than would appear at first sight. To show that this estimate is not too sanguine, examples may be taken from the service between the " North Star," Finchley, and Oxford Circus : fully one-third of the mileage is made through a very sparsely populated district, and, yet, these omnibuses have paid very well indeed. No one would have thought that a frequent tramcar service would pay between Breatford and Hounslow, but the number of passengers carried, yearly, by these tramcars, is phenomenal. Yet, these cars lose such an amount of time, owing to their frequent stoppages and the fact that they are confined to a rigid track, that motor omnibuses would be far more popular, and far better patronised, if they were substituted for them.
Taking the above figure, viz., that the average earnings, over the country half of the journey, would be reduced to is. per mile, as against is. 2d., over the City half, the daily takings would be reduced by ios. This is the only item on the debit side of the revenue account. The credit side of the account will show, first of all, a reduction in wages, owing to the shorter hours. It would be fair to put this at is. per bus per day. In the second place there will be a saving in wear and tear, owing to the absence of traffic stops on the country portion of the journey. There is no doubt that a very great saving can he effected under this heading, and it will be fair to put this at 2s. per bus per day. The
REALLY LARGE ITEM or SAVING occurs under the heading of police costs. Firstly, there are the fees payable to the police for licensing, amounting to .4.2 per annum. Secondly, there is the time spent in getting the vehicle passed by the police : this amounts to two days,. at a very moderate estimate, and the loss to the operating company amounts to £3 per day, for the expense of the attendance of the men, petrol, wear and tear, etc., and the loss of profits, which should be taken, for the purpose of calculation, at ;62 per day. This means that the operating • company loses £5 for each of the two days, or £m on the average, in getting each vehicle passed. Thirdly, there is the expense of passing drivers. It is not out of the way to say that two drivers have to be passed, annually, for each omnibus, and the cost to the company includes the use of teaching omnibuses, for the purpose of training the men, and for the police test, before their licenses are granted. On an average, it is three weeks before each man is passed. which means eighteen days' use of the teaching omnibus, and it may be assumed that six drivers are taught at a time. The cost of the teaching omnibus will amount to £5 petday, because it will have to do a considerable mileage, and there is no small amount of damage done to. the gears while -the men are learning. In addition to this, there is loss of profit on this omnibus, which should be put at
per day; thus, the total loss to the company is £7 per day. Eighteen days, at £7 per day, means £126, which must be divided amongst six drivers, showing that the cost per driver is £ai, and the cost of the two drivers-it has already been pointed out fhat on an average two drivers per bus have to be passed each year—is £42. The next item is the saving of the loss due to " stop notices. The police have been much more reasonable in this matter during the last two or three weeks, and have resorted to the old practice of issuing " two day " notices, requiring the proprietor to put the matter, of which they complain, right in two days: Averaging, however, the "stop" notices for the last 12 months, it would be fair to say that each omnibus loses seven days' earnings, per annum, through unnecessary police stops. The loss of profit in this manner, for seven days at per day, amounts to £14 per bus. Every Metropolitan stage carriage has to be presented, annually, for re-licensing, and must be completely repainted and varnished, before presentation. This necessitates laying up the bus for this purpose every year, and ten days would, certainly, be saved, if the painting could be done a little at a time, whenever a vehicle was laid up for repairs. Every proprietor would, for his own sake, have the paint work and varnish kept in good condition, but it need not all be done at once, and would be made subservient to other requirements. The loss of profit on the ten days' cornpulsory idling, for re-varnishing under the present system, amounts to 4.20.
THE TOTAL LOSS,
therefore, owing to the present police system, amounts to Fees, £2; time obtaining licenses, or re-licensing, £io; cost of passing two drivers, £42; loss through stop notices, £14; loss through annual re-varnishing, ,620; total, £88. This sum of £88 must be divided over 250 days, which is the number of full days worked per annum, averaged by all the motor omnibuses in Londonat the present time. (Several companies have achieved a much better record than this, -but, for the purposes of calculation, it is necessary to average them all.) Divide, therefore, this £88 into 250 days, and it amounts to a loss of 75. per day. Adding this item saved to the first two mentioned, viz., wages and wear and tear, we get a total saving amounting to los. per day, which, it will -be seen, exactly balances the loss due to the decreased earning capacity on the country roads. It follows, therefore, that the adoption of this system of extending the routes beyond the limits of the Metropolitan Police area will have no ultimate effect on the balancesheet of a company, so long as the present vehicles are used. Where the real gain will take place is in regard to the vehicles that are at present refused by the police, and with regard to the limits of capacity, etc., which are imposed by the police regulations. There are many ornnibusss, still unpassed, which have been presented again and again, and on which hundreds of pounds have been spent, in endeavouring to suit the autocrats of Scotland Yard : these could all be put into immediate service, and could commence to earn profits for the various companies. In placing future orders, it would be unnecessary to consider police regulations, so that vehicles of larger size could be put to work where the routes justified their adoption-.
It will be noticed that, in speaking of the saving that
would be effected in teaching drivers, no mention has been made of the method by which drivers would have to be taught. Each man would require a certain amount of training, before he was placed in charge of a motor omnibus. The only system, under the improved circumstances suggested, would be that outlined by the writer in his paper, before the Society of Motor Omnibus Engineers, on October 29th. The men would be taken on, first of all, as labourers in the garage, and would familiarise themselves with the mechanism of the car by cleaning and adjusting it. They would then be sent out to ride with regular drivers, and would be permitted to drive to, and from, the garage, on the breakdown lorry, and so forth, so that, hy the time the operating engineer advanced them to the position of driver, they would he perfectly familiar with the handling of the vehicle, and to a certain extent, with its construction and mechanism. The seats beside the driver would be available for passengers during the rush hours, and, thus, the
EARNING CAPACITY OF TIM OMNIBUS
would be increased ; learners would only be sent out on the service during the slack hours of the day. No longer would omnibuses be refused, because they were one-quarter of
an inch too short in the body, or because the gangway. was one-quarter of an inch too narrow, and the seats on the roof could be re-arranged, so as to accommodate an extra four passengers, without inconveniencing anybody. New vehicles would, probably, be constructed with considerable improvements in mechanism and body design, because it would be unnecessary to submit these improvements to the police, with the almost certain risk of refusal, as at the present time. Further, a proprietor would be able to experiment with any non-skid apparatus, or non-skid bands, on his tires. At the present moment, the police say that it is contrary to the Local Government Board Regulations, but they would not have the effrontery to attack a vehicle that was running with such appliances, though it is their practice to refuse to license them, when presented at Scotland Yard.
There is no doubt that the police have done much to improve the motor omnibus, by refusing unsatisfactory types of vehicles in the past, at a time when the company promoter was placing on the roads anything that could be called a motor omnibus ; but, now that the trade has reached the competitive stage, the police methods of supervision have done very serious damage to the motor industry, and have caused the loss of hundreds of pounds to London travellers by denying them improved facilities for travelling.